Watauga County Schools Mark Milestones Due To Unseasonable Weather For Late 2015

December 18, 2015 at 2:19 pmby Kenneth Reece

The unseasonable temperatures for late 2015 may not be a welcome thing by those wanting to see snow, but for the local school system it's been a welcome change to help stay on schedule. This marks the 15th time since the 1975/76 school year that no weather days were missed in December. In fact it's the 4th year in a row no days have been missed in December.

Even more interesting, and helpful for the school system, it's the 10th time that no days from August through December have been missed since 1975-76. The last time that happen was during the 2001-02 school year.

“We have been fortunate not to miss any school before the Christmas break this year. More often than not, we usually miss days prior to the break and have to extend first semester well into the middle of January.” Dr. Scott Elliott, Superintendent of Watauga County Schools, tells WataugaRoads.com

And it's not just the winter weather that schools have to contend with. Dr. Elliott adds “Up here, we can miss days in the fall due to flooding, and ice and snow can always be an issue from October on.”

To put the warmer temperatures into perspective, the average high temperature in Boone for December officially has been 55.55 degrees through the morning of December 18. For November 54.96 and October 62.19. Despite the warmer temperatures so far, it's safe to think it will not be like this the entire winter. “We have had great weather so far, but let's not let it lull us into thinking it will be this way all winter. We will have some snow and ice and we will end up missing school. It's just part of living in the mountains!” Elliott adds.

And Dr. Elliott is correct in his final comment. In fact when looking at school closings data, January is the month where the most school days have been missed since records have been kept. A total of 216 days for the month leads all months since 1975/76, followed by February with 178, December 77, March 56, November 18, April 7 and October 5. In all 603 days have been missed in the last 40 years. For more information and breakdown of the data visit Watauga County Schools Weather Closing History.